European project to use 3D imaging to diagnose and treat brain

Three year project aims to give treatment to the elderly

A project which aims to improve the diagnoses and therapy of brain diseases through 3D and imaging technology, has been announced.

The CSI: Central Nervous System Imaging is a three-year project, which is being carried out by ENIAC (European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council), is said to use substantial advances in state-of-the-art medical 3D-imaging platforms to focus on the diagnosis and therapy of serious diseases of the central nervous system and brain.

It said key medical-imaging technologies will be "significantly enhanced" by means of major improvement in sensors, equipment and computing platforms to boost early diagnostics and prevention capability while reducing total equipments cost.

According to ENIAC, one of the most important challenges facing Europe that many elderly people are suffering from diseases that affect the central nervous system, these include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, Epilepsy, and circulatory problems such as strokes, which are all continuing to grow. The organisation said that such diseases are some of the hardest to diagnose and treat.

The €14.6M project, which is funded publicly and partially through a combination of European and National grants, under the rule of ENIAC-JU 2009, will introduce minimally-invasive ICT-based imaging technologies such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and EEG (Electro EncephaloGraphy) to detect and track the evolution of these illnesses. Such technology will also be used to see whether or not current treatments are working.

Some of the 15 partners involved in the project include STMicroelectronics in Italy, the University of Bologna, Philips Electronics in The Netherlands, Guger Technologies OEG in Austria and the University of Pannonia in Hungary.